Terminal connector



Oct. 25, 1966 R. H. CADWALLADER TERMINAL CONNECTOR Filed May 18, 1964INVENTOR ROBERT H.CADWALLADER BYW Z ATTORNEY United States Patent3,281,754 TERMINAL CONNECTOR Robert H. Cadwallader, Wappingers Falls,N.Y., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York,N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,227 3Claims. (Cl. 339-61) This application relates to connectors and moreparticularly to connectors employed in making an electrical connectionwith terminals in the form of screw heads or nuts.

In the production of machines using electrical motors or having aseparate power supply, it is often necessary to make a temporaryconnection for the purpose of running the motor or operating the devicefor test or adjustment.

It is, therefore, the principal object of this invention to provide aconnector that can be easily applied to and removed from motor orcircuit terminals.

Another object is to provide a safe, efiicient and inexpensive connectorfor use with exposed terminals.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following more particulardescription of the preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustratedin the accompanying drawings.

In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in terminal block.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the invention showing in dot and dash theposition of parts prior to applying to a terminal.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the connector applied to a pair of terminals,and

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken along line 44 of FIG. 3.

The connector comprises a block of resilient insulation such assemi-hard rubber or any other resilient material with good dielectricqualities. The block is split along a portion of a medial line at 11 toform two arms 12 in each of which is formed an aperture for a cup shapedmetallic contact 14 of copper or other good conductor. A hole in theends of each arm is provided for power wires 15 that are secured to eachcontact in any well-known manner such as brazing or welding. Twoterminals 16 comprising nuts and bolts are on the machine or frame 17 towhich power is to be applied.

In operation the serrated portions 18 on the arms 12 are grasped and thearms are squeezed together as shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2. Thecontacts 14 are then placed over the terminals 16. When the pressure onarms 12 is released, they will spread bringing the contacts into contactwith the terminals as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

It is quite obvious that the contacts must be located in the block 10 insuch manner as to be free of the terminals when the arms are pressedtogether and in resilient yet secure engagement with the terminals whenreleased. This of necessity means that each connector will be designedfor a specific set of terminals but the principle of the split blockwill always be the same.

It is also obvious that each arm could carry more than one contactenabling the connector to temporarily perspective of the connector and aa signal circuit, to the device being adjusted.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in formand details may be made therein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an electrical connector for rality of wires to a combination of:

a member rigidly and fixedly carrying said terminals,

a block of resilient electric insulating material, said block comprisingtwo resilient arms having portions movable relative to each other upondeformation of said arms,

contacts carried by said portions, said contacts being connected to saidwires, said contacts having circum'ferentially continuous cylindricalwall portions adapted to abut said terminals and. form electricalconnections therewith, said wall portions having internal diametersgreater than the diameters of said terminals whereby said contacts fitfreely over said terminals to enable said wall portions to be placedadjacent thereto,

said arms being deformable from a first position wherein said contactsare spaced from each other a distance different than the spacing betweensaid terminals, to a second position wherein said contacts are spacedfrom each other a distance substantially the same as the spacing betweensaid terminals, said connector being adapted to be connected to saidterminals by deforming said arms into said second position, placing saidcontacts adjacent said terminals and then releasing said arms to allowsaid contacts to move towards said first position until they abut saidterminals and are prevented by said terminals against further movementtoward said first position, whereby the resiliency of said arms pressessaid contacts against said terminals and provides substantially the onlyforces for establishing the necessary contact pressure to effectelectrical connections between said contacts and said terminals.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein'said block comprises a V-shapednotch forming said arms, said arms having cylindrical pockets receivingsaid contacts, the axes of said contacts being substantially parallel toeach other and to said terminals when forming electrical connectionstherewith.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said contacts are spaced from eachother a distance greater than the spacing between said terminals, andsaid connector is adapted to be connected to said terminals by pinchingsaid arms towards each other whereby said arms tend to spread from eachother to effect said electrical connections with said terminals.

connecting a pluplurality of spaced terminals, the

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,209,242 7/ 1940Truesdell 339-74 FOREIGN PATENTS 167,659 8/ 1921 Great Britain. 926,9365/ 1963 Great Britain.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Primary Examiner. connect more than one circuit, i.e.,a power circuit and PATRICK A. CLIFFORD, Examiner. J. H. MCGLYNN,Assistant Examiner.

Patented Oct. 25, 1966

1. IN AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR FOR CONNECTING A PLURALITY OF WIRES TO APLURALITY OF SPACED TERMINALS, THE COMBINATION OF: A MEMBER RIGIDLY ANDFIXEDLY CARRIED SAID TERMINALS, A BLOCK OF RESILIENT ELECTRIC INSULATINGMATERIAL, SAID BLOCK COMPRISING TWO RESILIENT ARMS HAVING PORTIONSMOVABLE RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER UPON DEFORMATION OF SAID ARMS, CONTACTSCARRIED BY SAID PORTIONS, SAID CONSTACTS BEING CONNECTED TO SAID WIRES,SAID CONTACTS HAVING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY CONTINUOUS CYLINDRICAL WALLPORTIONS ADAPTED TO ABUT SAID TERMINALS AND FROM ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONSTHEREWITH, SAID WALL PORTIONS HAVING INTERNAL DIAMETERS GRATER THAN SAIDDIAMETERS OF SAID TERMINALS WHEREBY SAID CONTACTS FIT FREELY OVER SAIDTERMINALS TO ENABLE SAID WALL PORTIONS TO BE PLACED ADJACENT THERETO,SAID ARMD BEING DEFORMABLE FROM A FIRST POSITION WHEREIN SAID CONTACTSARE SPACED FROM EACH OTHER A DISTANCE DIFFERENT THAN THE SPACING BETWEENSAID TERMINALS, TO A SECOND POSITION WHEREIN SAID CONTACTS ARE SPACEDFROM EACH OTHER A DISTANCE SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME AS THE SPACING BETWEENSAID TERMINALS, SAID CONNECTOR BEING ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TO SAIDTERMINALS BY DEFORMING SAID ARMS INTO SAID SECOND POSITION, PLACING SAIDCONTACTS ADJACENT SAID TERMINALS AND THEN RELEASING SAID ARMS TO ALLOWSAID CONTACTS TO MOIVE TOWARDS SAID FIRST POSITION UNIT THEY ABUT SAIDTERMINALS AND ARE PREVENTED BY SAID TERMINALS AGAINST FURTHER MOVEMENTTOWARD SAID FIRST POSITION, WHEREBY THE RESILIENCY OF SAID ARMS PROVIDESSAID CONTACTS AGAINST TERMINALS AND PROVIDES SUBSTANTIALLY THE ONLYFORCES FOR ESTABLISHING THE NECESSARY CONTACT PRESSURE OF EFFECTELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SAID CONTACTS AND SAID TERMINALS.